CBS19 EXPLAINS | How does a storm get labeled as severe?

Added: 2026-06-04

[00:00:00]Well, yesterday we saw plenty of thunderstorms overspread the entirety of East Texas and there were some severe thunderstorms in there as well.

[00:00:07]But what about those thunderstorms made them severe? We're going to go over the definition from the National Weather Service. In order for a thunderstorm to be considered base level severe, it has to have at least one of three hazards.

[00:00:19]That being 58 mph winds or higher, 1-in diameter hail, or a tornado. And at the point of there being a tornado, the National Weather Service would completely bypass a severe thunderstorm warning and go straight to tornado warning.

[00:00:33]Now, you might think that heavy enough rainfall could also make a storm severe, but as a matter of fact, that is not one of the criteria for a severe thunderstorm. Instead, that would be more so the criteria for a flash flood warning. Now, there are also different levels of severity. The criteria that I mentioned earlier is only the bare minimum for a severe thunderstorm. Level two is called a considerable severe thunderstorm with winds at least 70 mph and 1.75-in hail or higher, aka roughly the size of golf balls. And then there's level three, which is destructive. That is what sets off your phones and that has at least 80 mph winds with 2.75-in hail or higher, which is roughly the size of baseballs. Again, for a severe thunderstorm to be labeled considerable or destructive, it has to have one or two of those criteria.